Statue of a Soldier

[TNH]

All right, I've decided to post in the critique section again! Please be very hard on me this time, and give any suggestions you'd like on how I could back and take this photo better, because I live right next door to this statue and can go take a picture of it whenever I want to.

I wasn't sure whether to put this in the "Landscape" or "Other" category, but I put it in "Other" because the main part of the picture is the statue, not the landscape.

And my question is: Do you think that the clouds behind the trees make the sky more interesting and add to the picture, or does it distract your gaze from the statue too much? I would really like to know. If you think they are distracting, I can go back on a cloudless day and try taking it again. I need your opinions! And anything else that you notice that could use some help, I would appreciate if you pointed it out.

Again, tell me exactly what you think about it, whether good or bad! I would really like to improve this photo. So here it is:



Taken on July 7, 2011
Camera Nikon Coolpix S3000
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture f/3.5
Focal Length 5.8 mm
ISO Speed 80
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
X-Resolution 1
Y-Resolution 1
Orientation Horizontal (normal)
Software COOLPIX S3000V1.0

[Phillydog1958]

The clouds are fine. They add a bit of contrast against the tree line.

[cyber3d]

IMO, the background is too distracting. If the statue is your subject, crop a lot closer. If the words are the focus - we need to be able to read it large/close up. If the statue itself is the focus - you need to be really close to see it's character, texture, the face, the details.

Check out this pic of a statue in Italy. It has a busy background, but the cropping with a shallow depth of field brings out the texture and character of the statue. I hope you don't mind my putting my pic on your thread. But, I use it as an example.

[dlambert]

Pay attention to lighting -- it'll make a big difference. This is one of the biggest challenges in situations when you're shooting something and you *don't* have the ability to wait for better conditions, but in your case, you can be picky. In this photo, it looks like the sun was pretty high, though I'm guessing it was diffused by a cloud because the shadows aren't really crisp.

If you choose to include the base of the statue in your composition, you'll want to make sure that the lettering is fairly distinct, IMO. Better lighting will help this, but regardless, you may want to look at giving the photo a bit more contrast to bring out the lettering as well as all the textures of the figure itself. The photo that cyber3d added is a great example -- there are strong highlights and shadows that give the photo depth.

As far as the background goes, you want to be fairly deliberate about whether that stuff is an important part of the photo or not. If it's important, make sure it's part of the story somehow; otherwise, find a way to compose so that it's not as prominent -- this could include using a shallower DOF to blur the background a bit.

Finally, try to think about what makes that statue photo-worthy -- what are you trying to convey about that statue that makes it not just a statue? What were you thinking when you decided you wanted to get that photo? Try to help the viewer see something in that statue that only you've noticed.

[TNH]

Originally Posted by Phillydog1958

The clouds are fine. They add a bit of contrast against the tree line.

Thanks for your opinion!
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Originally Posted by cyber3d

IMO, the background is too distracting. If the statue is your subject, crop a lot closer. If the words are the focus - we need to be able to read it large/close up. If the statue itself is the focus - you need to be really close to see it's character, texture, the face, the details.

When you say that the background is distracting, do you mean the gravestones, trees, clouds, or basically everything is?
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Originally Posted by dlambert

Pay attention to lighting -- it'll make a big difference. This is one of the biggest challenges in situations when you're shooting something and you *don't* have the ability to wait for better conditions, but in your case, you can be picky. In this photo, it looks like the sun was pretty high, though I'm guessing it was diffused by a cloud because the shadows aren't really crisp.

So, you mean I should go back and take this again when the sun is high in the sky?

If you choose to include the base of the statue in your composition, you'll want to make sure that the lettering is fairly distinct, IMO. Better lighting will help this, but regardless, you may want to look at giving the photo a bit more contrast to bring out the lettering as well as all the textures of the figure itself. The photo that cyber3d added is a great example -- there are strong highlights and shadows that give the photo depth.

All right, I'll try giving it more contrast on my computer.

As far as the background goes, you want to be fairly deliberate about whether that stuff is an important part of the photo or not. If it's important, make sure it's part of the story somehow; otherwise, find a way to compose so that it's not as prominent -- this could include using a shallower DOF to blur the background a bit.

I really want to keep the grave stones in the background. What exactly do you mean, make sure it's a part of the story?

Finally, try to think about what makes that statue photo-worthy -- what are you trying to convey about that statue that makes it not just a statue? What were you thinking when you decided you wanted to get that photo? Try to help the viewer see something in that statue that only you've noticed.

I was trying to make the photo tell about all the soldiers who died in the World Wars. The statue, the cemetery...
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[cyber3d]

THN, FWIW, here is my edits for the image that you took. This may not do it for you. After all, it's always a personal interpretation when we do photography. I cropped to focus on the subject and to eliminate some of the "distractions." I changed the perspective, masked and adjusted levels on the front of the monument to bring out the text, did the same for the right side but at different levels, adjusted overall contrast via levels, removed some of the tree line on the left side and cloned some of the clouds, pumped up the sky to match the saturation of the stone via mask/gradient layer. I do wish I had a super sharp image however.

I know that you wanted the stone markers to be in the pic. But a compromise had to be made since the shot had already been made.

I also have Photoshop file with the layers and stuff so you can play with it if you so desire. Right click and choose save as or save link as.

http://www.3dman.com/5919442024_9a043541b4_b.psd

[TNH]

Originally Posted by Tito87

Does this help a little or is it too much? It can be toned down.

It looks good to me. Can you tell me all the steps you took to get it lo look like that? Thanks

[TNH]

Originally Posted by cyber3d

THN, FWIW, here is my edits for the image that you took. This may not do it for you. After all, it's always a personal interpretation when we do photography. I cropped to focus on the subject and to eliminate some of the "distractions." I changed the perspective, masked and adjusted levels on the front of the monument to bring out the text, did the same for the right side but at different levels, adjusted overall contrast via levels, removed some of the tree line on the left side and cloned some of the clouds, pumped up the sky to match the saturation of the stone via mask/gradient layer. I do wish I had a super sharp image however.

I know that you wanted the stone markers to be in the pic. But a compromise had to be made since the shot had already been made.

I also have Photoshop file with the layers and stuff so you can play with it if you so desire. Right click and choose save as or save link as.

http://www.3dman.com/5919442024_9a043541b4_b.psd

It looks nice cropped in like that, but the statue looks a little I don't know...fake, to me. But I do like the way the clouds and sky look.
And that link didn't work for me. When I clicked on it it says, "Page not found."

I went out this afternoon and took a few more pictures. I took your advice and did a close-up:



And another, where I tried to make the words clearer to read:



Do you think that these are better than the first one?

[Tito87]

Originally Posted by TNH

It looks good to me. Can you tell me all the steps you took to get it lo look like that? Thanks

I didn't do much, actually. I wanted to give it a closer crop, but after reading the previous posts, I realized that you wanted the stone markers in the picture. So, I just cropped a little on top and bottom, and almost nothing left and right; Then, I set the white and black points with the levels slider and after that a very small S curve; next, I played with the vibrance slider( just a little); finally, I sharpened it a little with the High Pass Filter, so that you could read what is written on the statue.

[cyber3d]

TNH, if you want to download the psd file. You of course need photoshop, and you would right click on the link, choose "save as" or "save link as" and that'll download the file for you.

Sweet reshoot! Good job!